Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (37) and Julius Rosenberg (35) were American communists who were convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. Their charges were related to the passing of secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union when they were employees of the Los Alamos atomic bomb project. They were both executed in the electric chair on June 19, 1953. This was the first execution of civilians for espionage in U.S. history